{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/208/2080052.htm","path":"chr/ecf/208/2080052.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/208/2080052.htm","text":"Establishment of the natural communion of the Spirit from His being, equally with the Father and the Son, unapproachable in thought. 1167\n53. Moreover the surpassing excellence of the nature of the Spirit is to be learned not only from His having the same title as the Father and the Son, and sharing in their operations, but also from His being, like the Father and the Son, unapproachable in thought. For what our Lord says of the Father as being above and beyond human conception, and what He says of the Son, this same language He uses also of the Holy Ghost. \u201cO righteous Father,\u201d He says, \u201cthe world hath not known Thee,\u201d 1168 meaning here by the world not the complex whole compounded of heaven and earth, but this life of ours subject to death, 1169 and exposed to innumerable vicissitudes. And when discoursing of Himself He says, \u201cYet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me;\u201d 1170 again in this passage, applying the word world to those who being bound down by this material and carnal life, and beholding 1171 the truth by material sight alone, 1172 were ordained, through their unbelief in the resurrection, to see our Lord no more with the eyes of the heart. And He said the same concerning the Spirit. \u201cThe Spirit of truth,\u201d He says, \u201cwhom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you.\u201d 1173 For the carnal man, who has never trained his mind to contemplation, 1174 but rather keeps it buried deep in lust of the flesh, 1175 as in mud, is powerless to look up to the spiritual light of the truth. And so the world, that is life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam. But the Lord, who by His teaching bore witness to purity of life, gives to His disciples the power of now both beholding and contemplating the Spirit. For \u201cnow,\u201d He says, \u201cYe are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,\u201d 1176 wherefore \u201cthe world cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not,\u2026but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you.\u201d 1177 And so says Isaiah;\u2014\u201cHe that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and Spirit to them that trample on it\u201d 1178 ; for they that trample down earthly things and rise above them are borne witness to as worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost. What then ought to be thought of Him whom the world cannot receive, and Whom saints alone can contemplate through pureness of heart? What kind of honours can be deemed adequate to Him?\n\u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u03b4\u03c5\u03c3\u03ad\u03c6\u03b9\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd. The Benedictine Latin is \u201cincomprehensibilis,\u201d but this is rather \u1f00\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2. The \u201cincomprehensible\u201d of the Ath. Creed is \u201cimmensus.\u201d\n34:1168 34:1169\n\u1f10\u03c0\u03af\u03ba\u03b7\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2. The force of the word as applied to this life is illustrated by the 61st Epigram of Callimachus:\n\u03a4\u03af\u03c2 \u03be\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f66 \u03bd\u03b1\u03c5\u03b7\u03b3\u03ad; \u0394\u03b5\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd\u03b8\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5 \u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd\n\u03b5\u1f57\u03c1\u03b5\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u1fbd \u03b1\u1f30\u03b3\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2, \u03c7\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b5 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u1ff7\u03b4\u03b5 \u03c4\u03ac\u03c6\u1ff3\n\u03b4\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u03af\u03ba\u03b7\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u1f78\u03bd \u03b2\u03af\u03bf\u03bd\u00b7 \u03bf\u1f50\u03b4\u1f72 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03c2\n\u1f25\u03c3\u03c5\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2, \u03b1\u1f30\u03b8\u03c5\u03af& 219\u00b7\u03c2 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f36\u03c3\u03b1 \u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6 .\n34:1170 34:1171\n\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03ad\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 , the reading of the Viennese ms. vulgo \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03c1\u03ad\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2.\n34:1172 34:1173 34:1174\n\u1f00\u03b3\u03cd\u03bc\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u1f14\u03c7\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd. cf. Heb. v. 14.\n34:1175\n\u03c4\u1ff7 \u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c3\u03b1\u03c1\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2. cf. Rom. viii. 6 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03c6\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c3\u03b1\u03c1\u03ba\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2.\n34:1176 34:1177 34:1178\nIs. xlii. 5, LXX. \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03ae\u03bd. So St. Basil\u2019s argument requires us to translate the lxx. The \u201cwalk therein\u201d of A.V. would not bear out his meaning. For this use of \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, cf. Soph., Ant. 745. \u03bf\u1f50 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03c3\u03ad\u03b2\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03ac\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd. So in the vulgate we read \u201cet spiritum calcantibus eam,\u201d\u2014calcare bearing the sense of \u201ctrample on,\u201d as in Juvenal, Sat. x. 86, \u201ccalcemus C\u00e6saris hostem.\u201d The Hebrew bears no such meaning.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. VIII: De Spiritu Sancto.: Establishment of the natural communion of the Spirit from His being, equally with the Father and the Son, unapproachable in thought.","type":"page"}